Long Talks About Nothing
by ADecadentAddiction
Summary: As princes of two countries who had formerly been embroiled in a long bloody war, coming to terms with the quickly changing state of the world after the end of the war was one thing, but as Leon and Takumi soon discover, coming to terms with everything else is much easier said than done, especially when they find that neither of them are quite ready to give up entirely on the past.
**A/N: This all started as a random prompt to help me with transitioning over into 3rd person point of view and somehow became an entire one shot for Fire Emblem: Fates about my favorite bromance. It's an only slightly AU head canon that revolves around the implementation of technology and various forms of communications becoming widespread after the events of Revelations, thus allowing Leon and Takumi to become late night phone buddies. The last names I gave them are taken from the Japanese names of their respective countries. That being said, critiques are much appreciated.**

 **Summary:** As princes of two countries who had formerly been embroiled in a long bloody war, coming to terms with the quickly changing state of the world after the end of the war was one thing, but as Leon and Takumi soon discover, coming to terms with everything else is much easier said than done, especially when they find that neither of them are quite ready to give up entirely on the past. Amidst this turbulent time in their lives they now find themselves engaging in seemingly meaningless late night conversations.

* * *

It had all started one day around two months before the banquet, a newly created joint venture between the neighboring lands of Nohr and Hoshido. Leon had found himself summoned by his older brother Xander, the crown prince of Nohr. Actually it could hardly have been called a summoning, for the bulk of it consisted of Xander wordlessly handing him a crumpled up piece of paper. He'd examined and inspected it thoroughly of course, turning it over in the palm of his hand and discovering only what appeared to be a cell phone number scrawled in hand writing that most certainly didn't belong to his brother. Leon sent Xander a questioning gaze, and was somewhat taken aback when Xander only laughed.

"Should I take your laughter to mean that some joke is currently being played on me?" Leon asked, noting his brother's oddly jovial mannerisms.

"It's no joke. In fact you could call it an order of sorts from Ryoma of paper has the details of your assignment on it." Xander elucidated.

"Byakuya Ryoma? The newly crowned king of Hoshido? Since when have the two of you developed a friendship?" Leon gaped incredulously.

"I am often called away to perform diplomatic duties in the neighboring country of Hoshido. While there King Ryoma and I often interact with each other." Xander smoothly explained away with the flick of his wrist.

"And this 'interaction' is somehow the cause of this piece of paper currently resting in my hand?You'll need to do a better job of explaining than that Brother." came Leon's skeptical reply, somewhat suspicious of just how close the two had become.

Xander paused briefly, leaning forward and entwining his fingers together before continuing,"Well then how about this? During my last trip to Hoshido a few days ago Ryoma himself gave me this piece of paper and said to deliver it you. Apparently he wants you to call the number written on it."

"I'll forgo asking why such a ridiculous assignment has been given to me and instead just skip straight to the point? Whose number is this?" Leon held the piece of paper up as he asked, still unwilling to resign himself to the task.

"It's the cell phone number of Byakuya Takumi, second in line to the Hoshidan throne. Ryoma wants you to give him a call it seems." answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"For Political reasons?"

"I'm afraid not"

"A business arrangement"

"Not that either"

"...What else is there then Brother?"

"What else do two young men of the same age and social standing talk about?" Xander inquired in response, brow slightly raised.

Hearing Xander's words, Leon merely scoffed, countering,"I wouldn't know. Why don't you go ask Corrin instead.I'm sure he's more than capable of fulfilling this particular mission."

Indeed from Leon's perspective, Corrin Kamui was certainly the man for the job. Having been raised as both a member of the Hoshidan and Nohrian royal family his existence as a go between was just as crucial as Xander's and Ryoma's if not more so. In recent years his efforts had proved substantially beneficial in securing peace between Hoshido and Nohr and despite only being two years older than Leon himself, all the while he'd surreptitiously acquired his own kingdom which was now known as Valla. Despite this he still often visited both Nohr and Hoshido and would probably be more well informed on the Hoshidan royal family from a personal perspective than Leon. The choice of who was more suited for this particular task was so obvious that Leon could not see why Xander had even bothered to request this of him in the first place.

"Truth be told this person has proven quite irksome even for only that but I'd rather not ask so much of him now that he's a married man with a country of his own to had you forgotten?" Xander stated casually, offering him no respite.

Forgotten? Corrin's marriage to the blue haired songtress Azura was something that he'd rather not remember, to say the least. The smug expression on Xander's face was enough to let Leon know that he'd knew he hit a sore spot from his last remark. Xander was sharper than most and Leon grimaced, but quickly recovered, pushing his thoughts of the woman away from his mind. She was after all someone that he had himself had eyes for once upon a time. With her recent marriage to Corrin, the thought of her now left only a bad taste in his mouth. She danced only for his elder brother now in a distant land beyond both Nohr and Hoshido. It would be in bad taste to continue yearning for her knowing this and he'd long since decided to cut off those unrequited feelings.

"How cruel Brother. Did it slip your mind that I just happened to be the best man at the ceremony," Leon retorted caustically while trying to maintain a restrained demeanor.

"Just talk with the poor boy Leon. It couldn't do any harm," Xander quickly changed the topic just as Leon began to feel the mood of their conversation taking a sour turn.

With those words, Xander had dismissed him, citing unfinished work that he needed to get done. It took Leon a full week however before he finally mustered up the resolve to actually call the number written on the piece of paper, partly because he'd actually been busy himself and partly because he could have simply cared less whether he ever got the opportunity or not. Indeed, it was one Sunday night as he relaxed in the comfort of his own room after a long due of meetings that he found his eyes shifting towards his nightstand where he had stowed the number away from sight.

"Might as well give it a try just to inform Xander I did it," Leon reasoned with himself, extracting his cellphone from the inner pocket of his denim pants and unlocking the screen.

He entered the number written on the crumpled up piece of paper into his phone and pressed dial, The phone seemed to ring for an eternity, Leon holding back a pensive breath, before someone finally picked up on the other a question was directed at him through the phone's speaker.

"Who has this number?" the voice on the other line asked tersely, but the moment Leon heard him he knew straight away it who the owner of the voice was.

"You may have already forgotten the likes of me so I'll reintroduce myself. I am Leon Anya, second prince of Nohr. And I'll take it you don't receive a lot of nameless calls."

"How did you get this number?" the voice questioned warily.

"Well I am a tactician. Let's just say I have my ways and leave it at that. Furthermore don't you think your tone is quite rude for someone who graciously took time out of their busy schedule to call you?"

"Is this a joke? I'm hanging up now. Goodbye"

The line had gone dead long before Leon ever had a chance to come up with a tactful he still didn't quite see the point of engaging in conversation with the other man he was already starting to see the reason why even Corrin had had trouble dealing with him. He looked at the call duration and seeing it hadn't even been a whole two minutes long, he sighed wistfully and discarded the device to a corner of his desk.

The next time he had decided to give calling Byakuya Takumi a try things were only marginally better. He had just gotten out of a strategy meeting concerning military efforts from here on out. Principally, whether or not to scale back on the numbers in their army now that it seemed as if they would be ushering in a new era of relative piece. Leon disparaged the thought of purposely weakening their defenses and had objected but his counter proposal had largely fallen on death ears, the members of the council too blinded by the rare opportunity currently in front of them and wanting to appear more genial to the equally militaristic Hoshido. This compounded with the recent ceding of their Northern territory and population to the newly reformed Valla had Leon concerned. It was during this time as he contemplated in his study that he'd suddenly had the strong desire to call the Hoshidan prince again, if only to take his mind off of other matters. He promptly retrieved his phone and dialed the number.

"Leon Anya again? I thought you would have considered it wise to have given up after the first attempt," came Takumi's less than pleasant greeting through the receiver.

"So you say but if you had really not wanted to be bothered with the likes of me then you wouldn't have answered the call in the first place," Leon pointed out, a smug smile creeping on his face.

"Should I do you the honor of hanging up now then," Takumi threatened.

"Has anyone ever mentioned that you can be an extremely disagreeable person?" Leon inquired jovially.

Takumi clicked his teeth together and returned his question with another, "Has anyone ever mentioned that you're a pretentious asshole?"

"Are you attending the upcoming banquet?" Leon skillfully segued instead.

"Unfortunately I have no other choice. My brother wouldn't let me get out of it," Takumi replied, his own regretfulness evident in the slight slow of his speech and lowering of his tone.

Not surprised to hear the king of Hoshido's stark refusal to the young man's truancy, Leon pondered, "You make it sound as if the absence of a Hohidan royal family member when Hoshido is acting as the host is a relatively minor occurrence."

"Well compared to Ryoma and Hinoka, you could say that my presence is somewhat less...essential. The same can't be said for you, who's recognized as a genius," Takumi conceding, surprising Leon with his offhanded compliment of him.

"Corrin and Azura will also be in attendance, so my relative importance at the banquet will be questionable at best," Leon admitted, not to keen on the prospect of having to confront them then.

"Then it seems as if we'll both be in the same situation," Takumi mused somberly, and Leon could only guess the exact meaning behind his words.

"While on the subject of Corrin and Azura, I just got out of a conference discussing Valla," Leon mentioned, recalling his earlier dismay and choosing to share it wih Takumi, "After such a long history of conquest and bloodshed, it's quite frightening to see two countries so happily give away land."

Takumi sighed, "Just think of it as a wedding present, though I wouldn't figure you the type to go to them based off of your reputation."

"I'll have you know that I was appointed the best man while I don't even distinctly remember seeing you at their wedding at all," Leon readily defended.

"Weddings are such trifling matters that I simply didn't see the point of attending one. Most people don't make such extravagant affairs out of a simple union," Takumi offered his opinion, coming off wholly disillusioned with the idea.

"I suppose that we, as members of our respective royal families, are therefore different from 'most people' judging by your logic," Leon offered in opposition, unconcerned with the possibility of yet again antagonizing his conversation partner

"Careful. Your staunch defense almost makes it sound like you were more interested in the bride than in the ceremony." Takumi huffed bitterly, some unfamiliar undertone that Leon couldn't quite decipher bubbling up through his words.

"And if I were?" Leon replied.

"Ha! Don't tell me you had a thing for that woman as well?"Takumi mocked derisively, and intuitively Leon started formulating a response before he'd even finished his sentence.

"As well? I did once upon a time but unlike a certain someone I've long since managed cut those feelings off. They will do me no good in the future after 'd be wise to do the same and stop sulking in such an obvious fashion."

There was a pregnant pause over the line and judging from it, Leon guessed that he must have assumed correctly. Had being so thoroughly called out surprised him? Leon could only imagine what would happen next. And of course Takumi had also hung up on him that time as well.

The next time they talked it was Leon's turn to be surprised. It had been almost three in the morning when an unbelievably inebriated Takumi had been the one to call him. Leon had been asleep when the sudden ring of his phone and bright flashing light of it's screen had awoken him. Grabbing it off the adjacent nightstand, Leon glared irritably at the caller ID, momentarily believing that Takumi's name appearing on it must have been a delusion of his sleep addled brain. He'd initially rejected the call, only for Takumi to dial his number again a few moments later, causing Leon to groan audibly and give in, swiping right in order to take the call. He knew he would soon regret it.

"Takumi what is the meaning of this? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Leon complained.

"Serves you right Nohrian scum!"Takumi slurred from the other line, making Leon wonder just how much he'd had to drink that night.

"Have you been drinking?" Leon asked despite already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. What of it? Tonight's been a drinking sort of night as it stands," the other man admitted shamelessly, irregular pauses littering his speech.

"And what, pray tell, constitutes a drinking sort of night then?" Leon rolled his eyes, but chose to humor the belligerently drunk man.

"Please tell me that you've heard the good news," Takumi spat sarcastically, and Leon's curiosity couldn't help but be piqued a little.

Leon opened his eyes a bit and raised himself up off his bed a bit on his elbows, becoming suddenly more interested in what at first had only looked like

Takumi's late night drunken ramblings. He'd known that Corrin and Azura were supposedly visiting Hoshido these past few days, hence the lack of conversation between himself and Takumi Leon's silence as a sign, Takumi started speaking once again.

Takumi cleared his throat and announced haughtily, "It seems that the lovely Azura is with child. She and Corrin came to announce the splendid news in Hoshido today."

Leon blinked a few times, taking the information in. And most of all annoyance in regards to Takumi, who was clearly upset and who he now assumed had been drinking as a way to drown his sorrows, for springing this new on him now of all times bubbled up inside him.

"How childish can you get Takumi?" Leon scoffed harshly.

"Me? Childish? What would you know!?" he yelled so loud that Leon had to hold the phone away from his ear.  
"I do know that you have called me piss drunk in the middle of the night to bitch about another man's woman," Leon countered, his tiredness making his mood fouler than it already was.

"Yes, how very unfortunate that not everyone has acting skills as superb as yours!" Takumi retaliated.

"Excuse me?"

"You want to appear all calm and collected like you're better than me but admit it. At night I bet all you can think about is her. How she sings to Corrin. How they make love to each-"

Leon's own tension levels spiked, and he jolted into an upright position in his bed and interrupted him before he could finish, no longer caring whether or not he raised his voice, "Since when were you so concerned with my feelings? Let me guess. What I said to you the last time we spoke got to you didn't it? Don't think that you'll get some jabs in and blame it on the alcohol later. I'm not so gullible as to fall to your level."

"Oh? Have I finally managed to touch upon a sore subject for you? Who would have thought that even someone like you could get riled up," Takumi bolstered wildly.

It was at this point in their conversation that if Leon had been able to reach through his phone and strangle Byakuya Takumi then he would be seriously contemplating doing so now. Just as the Nohrian prince upon his mouth to deliver a particularly biting comeback, he instead found himself interrupted by Takumi speaking up once again, only in a much darker mood suddenly.

"Had I not been cold, would they have ever looked at me with those same love filled gazes?" Takumi asked breathily, his voice dropping to a mere whisper.

It was honestly a question he had asked himself. However, he'd slowly found himself thinking of Azura less and less as time went by. This had obviously not been the case for Takumi who even know was still haunted by his unrequited feelings for her. What other reason would the man have for drinking himself into a stupor and then seeking solace from Leon of all people?

"That's not something I can answer," Leon pointed out, pausing to yawn before going on, "All I know is that we're only interlopers, spectators only able to watch them from afar."

"How can you be satisfied with such a thing?"

"Rather than being satisfied, I've found something new to preoccupy my time now"

"Eh? Just what would that be?"

"Wouldn't you know? It's a certain drunken Hoshidan prince with the audacity to call at such an ungodly hour of the day."

"Leon...?"

"Takumi?"

"Thanks." came the small response on the other line before it abruptly went dead, signifying the end of the call and that Takumi had once again hung up on him.

"How fantastic. And now I'm wide awake," Leon bemoaned, turning over in his bed, his train of thought trailing off to the images of Takumi in Hoshido, lying in his own room upset and intoxicated.

After that, the next time Leon had the chance to converse with him had been at the banquet hosted by the Hoshidan royal family. It had been quite a lively affair, with not only nobility from Nohr and Hoshido, but also the heads of smaller countries attending as well. Leon's brother Xander and Ryoma, the King of Hoshido, had been nearly inseparable during its entirety, glued at the hip. It was a sign that much like the blossoming friendship of its rulers, the two countries themselves were also heading towards friendlier relations in the future. Leon had even encountered Takumi, who had mostly seemed to be moping around the outskirts of the ballroom with the exception of the initial exchanges between Nohr and Hoshido and, to Leon's surprise, a brief, nicely choreographed archery display in the courtyard.

At some point afterwards, Leon had run into Corrin and Azura. They shared small talk amongst each other just like old times and Leon congratulated them on their good news. The rosy blush on Azura's face as she stood beside Corrin and the way her eyes lovingly roamed towards her husband every so often as they talked no longer had the same effect on Leon as it once did. His previous envy was instead replaced with a feeling of honest happiness for her. Looking at her now after all this time, he had to wonder if he had ever seen her smile so beautifully before. They bid farewell to each other, with Corrin suggesting that he should stop by and pay them a visit in Valla at some point if Leon wasn't too busy. Leon smiled in agreement.

Only near the end of the night of festivities had Xander finally approached him, relieving him of his socializing duties. Leon immediately set his sights on searching for Takumi, and after a short waltz around the interior, found him outside on the balcony overlooking the Hoshidan capital. The moment he stepped outside, the cool evening air hit Leon's skin, sending a chill through him. The night air was certainly different than it was in Hoshido. Takumi must have sensed his presence behind him, as even without turning to acknowledge him, he started to speak.

"It sure took you long enough to come and find me Leon Anya," Takumi turned to face him, leaning his back against the edge of the balcony.

"My apologies Your Highness. It took somewhat longer than expected to plan my escape route." Leon teased playfully, making his way towards the other man and joining him at the edge of the balcony.

Takumi regarded him plainly before saying,"I had wondered if talking with you face to face would give me a different impression of your character. Seeing you start in on the sarcasm tells me that I was wrong to ever expect such a thing,"

"If I didn't you certainly would."

"Touche."

"Who would have guessed that you would be adept with the bow? I must admit that your skills were definitely second to none," Leon complimented, genuinely impressed by the young man's earlier display.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," came Takumi's reply, soon followed by a soft laugh.

"On the contrary, flattery will get you is a core element of politics Your Highness." Leon commented.

"Coming from you, it sounds quite pretentious." Takumi pointed out.

"I believe you did once refer to me as a pretentious asshole after all," Leon, citing an earlier conversation of theirs.

"My brother is grooming me to become his chief advisor..." Takumi suddenly divulged, deviating from their initial conversation.

"Congratulations."

Takumi returned his congratulations with a slightly bewildered expression,"Is it something to be congratulated for?"

"I'd think so. He could just have you exiled or 'd certainly be easier than keeping around any potential threats to his rule," Leon stated dryly.

"Do you fear the possibility of Xander doing that to you?" Takumi questioned, his voice low and resonating to Leon's ears.

"Xander? No never. But my father killed off all of his own siblings and in childhood our respective mothers tried to pit his us against each other so such cruelty is not outside the realm of possibility."

"I am sorry to hear that...," Takumi averted his gaze and said with the most sincerity that Leon had ever heard the other male muster in the brief time that they'd known each other.

"Don't be. Long had Nohr closed off it's borders from any outside influence in favor of our own archaic customers," Leon stated stoically, retrieving his cellphone from the inner pocket of his coat and holding it out to Takumi, "but with devices such as these becoming so wide spread,changing the way even commoners communicate amongst each other, so too do our ideals change for the better."

Another long silence followed between them, Takumi's pensive expression telling Leon that he was probably searching for the right words. Leon could somehow tell that there was more bothering Takumi, but all he could do was sit there and wait patiently for him to decide to share it with him or not. A few minutes later the Hoshidan prince exhaled deeply and started talking.

"Actually, there's something that I wanted to clear up between us for a while now but had never gotten the chance to," Takumi spoke up following the long silence between them, shifting somewhat uncomfortably, "I was never in love with Azura. It was only a misunderstanding on my elder brother's part. Which is what I assume was the reason that you were roped into talking to me in the first place."

"So you knew about that?" Leon concluded.

"It was hard not to. What other reason would we ever have for talking to each other when it's not related to our countries. Did you take me for a fool?" Takumi scoffed in return, as if the mere thought of himself not being in the know about the scheme involving him was a ridiculous notion.

"If you weren't in love with Azura then why-?"Leon started to ask, but was cut off by Takumi when the latter his head dismissively and spoke again.

"Corrin...,"

"What?"

"The person I was really in love with was Corrin," Takumi confessed, "Knowing that do you find me disgusting?"

Takumi had been in love with Corrin? It was definitely a shock to say the least, as not only had Corrin been his sibling through marriage but also a man. In hindsight, it came as no surprised that Takumi would be disillusioned by the prospect of marriage, because marriage was normally a union between a man and a woman. How hard must it have been for Takumi to endure it in silence? His thoughts then turned to Xander, and Leon wondered if his older brother had already known about this little tidbit of information when he had brought up Corrin a month ago. Then again if Ryoma had misinterpreted Takumi's recent moodiness and Xander had attained his information from him then it was safe to assume that this was something Takumi hadn't divulged to anyone else before tonight.

Leon thought of Azura, and of how his love for her had also gone unfulfilled. Instead of dealing with it directly, he had pushed it far in the back of his mind and had tried not to think about it. At least at first. To make matters worse he's told Takumi to do the same. In the end he'd only been lying to himself, having chosen to run away from his feelings instead of confronting them. Through his conversations with Takumi however, he had begun to feel them gradually cool off . He'd wanted to appear more well adjusted than Takumi and in some twist of fate it was seeing Takumi's own way of dealing with the pain that had ultimately helped him overcome his. He only now realized how cruel his words must have been to Takumi, who'd desperately wanted to vent his feelings after denying them for so long only to be told to do just that once again.

"It doesn't matter who you were in love with. The feeling of that love going unfulfilled is still the same. All of it is equally as painful," Leon reassured, his gaze affixed not on the man beside him, but on the view of the sunset over Hoshido that they could see from their position on the balcony.

"That's not fair, you're too smooth," Takumi, hid his face and said, shoulders trembling a little in the evening light.

"Look at us. We're just two guys who lost in love and had to be set up by our brothers to lick each other's wounds. Isn't that pathetic?" Takumi's shaky voice let out and Leon couldn't help

"Speak for yourself. We might have lost this one but I'm pretty confident that my luck is already starting to turn around," Leon found himself boasting to the other male in an attempt to cheer up both of them.

Takumi's gaze met his, and for a brief moment they stood there wordly facing each other, their faces only a short distance apart from each other. It occurred to Leon that there was a familiar fluttery feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he couldn't quite pinpoint the exact reason why. Takumi's body heat radiating off of him was a more than welcomed relief from the chill of the outside and neither of them made any moves to distance themselves from each other. From there proximity, Leon could even see the unmistakably red swelling of of Takumi's eyes, which was most likely the reason that he had started to hide his face. Leon raised a hand, as if to wipe away a stray tear from his cheek when suddenly a high pitched voice cut through the air.

"There you two are! Sakura and I were looking for you guys everywhere. If you don't hurry Ryoma' s going to get angry and neither of us want to see that!" came Elise's boisterous interruption, causing both Leon and Takumi to hurriedly pull away from each other.

Soon Sakura was tugging at her older brother's coattails, imploring him to hurry back to the rest of their family. Takumi glanced back at him one last time, waved his farewells, and compliantly followed her from the balcony. Meanwhile Elise stood besides him pouting, no doubt curious as to why she and Sakura had found them together in the first place. However, Leon's lips were sealed.

"You're not such a bad guy after all Leon Anya," Takumi murmured before leaving his side and disappearing back through the doors leading into the ballroom with Sakura, and Leon wasn't sure whether those words had been directed towards him or to himself.

The rest of the night Leon would often glance over in Takumi's general direction only to catch the other male staring at him before quickly averting his gaze. They never got a chance to talk again during the banquet, much to Leon's dismay. Even sill, he frequently found his thoughts drifting back towards their earlier conversation as it replayed over and over in his mind.

Later that night, after Leon and his family had returned to the hotel they were staying in for the duration of their stay in Hoshido, Takumi had, for the first time, been the one to call him.

"I see someone couldn't get enough of our scintillating conversation from earlier," Leon, knowing no other way to brooch the awkward silence that had formed between them, mused.

"I would have never pegged you for one to joke around so freely. Standing there next to your brothers, you seemed cold and aloof. Tell me, which is the real you?" Takumi questioned.

"You're one to talk. I'd say that your aura was much more unapproachable than mine. Or were you merely sulking in the shadow of your elder brother? And just so you know, I a man with many facets to him. None more true or false than another." Leon retorted lighthearted, recalling the Hoshidan prince's reclusive tendencies at the banquet earlier.

At this, his conversation partner boisterously exclaimed,"Blasphemy! I was not sulking in the least bit. And besides if that is what you believe then I find it quite surprising that you'd take the time out of your oh so busy schedule to even notice the likes of me hiding in my great brother's shadow."

It seems that indeed Byakuya Takumi had been adequately offended, for when he had finished talking, Leon could clearly make out the sounds of Takumi's irritated huff. They were the same age and yet the prince of Hoshido seemed much more quick to temper. It was a fact that he couldn't deny was somewhat adorable however. While part of him was overcome with the sudden urge to tease the man even further, he wisely resisted, but not without first cracking a smile at the other man's own obliviousness.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Your Highness. Your brother, the king, may have you beat in some departments but from what I witnessed of your skills with the bow earlier today, I'd be willing to bet you have a few tricks up your sleeve of your own," Leon reassured Takumi, before adding suggestively, "I certainly wouldn't mind helping you discover them. I am, after all, an expect of figuring out a person's strengths and weaknesses."

"Dare I say the infamous Leon of Nohr is trying to flirt with me?" he chuckled uncharacteristically from the other side of the line, his own irritation seemingly forgotten in an instant, the deep and melodic timbre of his voice sending chills down the other man's spine.

The temperature in his hotel room seemed to rise and Leon found himself moving into a sitting position on his bed and loosening the black tie around his neck. His skin, uncomfortably dampened with sweat, glistened in the dim light of the room, and a single momentary glance into the outlandishly large mirror across from him revealed a rather disheveled countenance. How was it that this man, the young prince of Nohr's former enemy, could excite such an involuntary response from his body? A man that he'd only just recently met in the flesh for the first time in his life no less.

"I just hope the purpose of this call wasn't to somehow ease your way back into my good graces. I've had more than my fair share of people's sudden turn arounds. Especially in light of what I told you earlier. Even more so when they think it will benefit them," Takumi conjectured, his tone all too abruptly becoming serious and suspicious.

"That wasn't my intention in the slightest actually. I'm fully confident that after tonight I've firmly securing my place within that good grace of yours. Truth be told, I thought now would be as good a time as any to make amends. Maybe over drinks even?" Leon clarified, the words quickly rolling off his tongue as he offered a quick recovery to the somber man.

As the voice on the other line went silent, no doubt deliberating over the idea, Leon found himself shuffling nervously on the edge on his bed, his lips gently quivering. Between them, there was still so much more to be discovered, and neither of them were accustomed to this new unknown territory that they'd be heading to. But at the same time they'd never get anywhere without first mustering up the courage to at least take a stab in the dark. He didn't quite yet have a grasp on the inexplicable feeling welling up as his chest, but just maybe he could start calling it love soon.

* * *

 **With that I'd consider this one shot reasonably complete. No matter how many times I reread it however it always feels so short. Maybe in the future I'll get around to writing a companion story for it. It'd be fun to see the two of them learn how to text. Funny how I'm writing T rated fanfiction when I hardly ever read anything below M. Until next time. This has been ADecadentAddiction!**


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